First and most important item: all parties need to find a resolution, soon. Yesterday! The longer this dispute continues, the more damage inflicted on the chain's owners, workers and customers. It is not simply a grudge match between Arthur T and Arthur S Demoulas, long feuding cousins currently blowing a hole in their company’s solid reputation.

It took years to build up the extraordinary bond between the company and the public. It will take mere weeks to destroy it, as that strong equity vanishes while shoppers shy away from empty shelves and protesting employees.

Second item: CEOs everywhere should pay attention. In what will undoubtedly become a fascinating case study at B schools around the nation. How did Market Basket's former management inspire so much loyalty in the rank and file that those employees would risk their livelihoods for the boss? The visual and emotional demonstration of support is virtually unprecedented.

The list could be much more extensive, but one last item ... let's not forget the collateral damage from this confrontation. The victims are many and multiply each day.Food banks, lawyers, and public relation companies are among the few winners in this feud.

Everyone else - from the local farmer to the Market Basket board - has too much at risk to let this situation continue to simmer. Whether there is one buyer in Arthur T, or many to choose from as the board contends, a quick sale is apparently the only option which allows Market Basket to survive, restock those shelves and try to rebuild the ties that bind.